The First Veiled Message in TTTTA

"The Tunnel Thru the Air or Looking Back from 1940."

You go no further, you haven't read a thing beyond the title.  Without anything in the text of the book other than the titel, is there a self-contained message?

It takes some context to come up with Petter Amundsen's "lunar return" deciphering.  He's right, but to get to that meaning you need the Jonas connection (3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth) on the inscrutable page 69.  And you need context for the other (valid) interpretations I've seen as well.

But to derive the following interpretation of meaning, all you need is the above 10 words.

Yes.  An eteostic.  And eteostic or chronogram is the use of Roman Numerals to designate a key number.  A number of importance.  The capitalization and order do not matter, just the sum of the numnumerals (1940 is not a Roman numeral).

Here are the Roman Numerals hidden in the title (converted to capital letters for recognition):

L I L I C M

L=50
I=1
C=100
M=1000

50+1+50+1+100+1000= 1202.

And the immense significance of 1202?  1202 AD when the great Leonardo Fibonacci published Liber Abaci.  And the significance?  Our system of enumeration in numbers instead of Roman Numerals.  From wikipedia:

Ever tried to divide a Roman Numeral and find the result to the 3rd decimal?  How could any system of numbers not embrace and symbolize the infinite circle?

Can there be a more pervasive invention in mathematical communication affecting the last 800 years?

Interesting.  Mr. Gann used 10 words in the title, Liber Abaci, 0 through 9.  Pure genius IMO.

Jim Ross

  of Tottenham (Lane)